First Blog Post in a LONG Time

Oh my goodness. It's been forever since I last posted here. Oh well, I'm just going to pick up where we are. A quick re-cap:

• Max was born July 29th
• Karol started at Nazareth Nursery
• I worked on a campaign for Congress
• We went home for Thanksgiving, stayed in NYC for the rest of the holidays
• Pat turned 2 AND started at Nazareth Nursery
• I'm consulting a variety of intriguing clients, from home with Max

The world continues to turn. Matt's office, which was in midtown Manhattan, got moved to Jersey City. The commute is longer, and now we live in Manhattan (and pay Manhattan taxes/rent) for no apparent reason. Life is hilarious.

The kids' school is in Chelsea, so we'd like to move there, but to find someplace we can all fit into is next to impossible, unless we want to pay upwards of $5k/mo. Which just seems silly. Moving to Jersey City is an option, maybe. We could get more space for less money, but getting the kids to school would be a weird, twice a day commute that wouldn't make sense unless I was coming into Manhattan for work anyway. Of course, anything could happen in the next 18 months before our lease is up, so I'm in no rush to change things.

I don't really have much time to blog, obviously, between Max, a growing client list and the haul to pick up the kids from school every day - but I'm getting better at it.

We've all been sick for the past month or so (and really since Thanksgiving, off and on), and I've devised a sort of cleaning/chore schedule to go along with my new SAHM image - I've yet to actually complete my daily chores in a day, but I'm getting better.

That's the update for now. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of blogging again. Maybe if I can pull it off here, I can work on my other projects, JillianShaw.com and GOPCampaigner.com (still building that one). Say a prayer for me!

Montessori Mommy?

I'm back to reading Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three and back on a Montessori kick again.  I think I wrote in an earlier post that we found exactly the right school for our kids - it's a Catholic Montessori preschool - and last month we were finally able to go there for observation.

I'm even more convinced that this is where I want Karol to be next year, but alas, there's no space available.  Well, Sister Lucy, the lady that runs the place, said they may have an opening depending on if one family moves...so we're keeping our fingers crossed, but won't be surprised if it doesn't happen until the 2011-12 school year.

So what do we do until then?  I really don't see the point in sticking her in a different preschool for a year and then switching.  That just seems like it would cause undue stress for all of us.  So I'm seriously considering teaching her (as best I can) from home, in the Montessori Method.

Of course, it doesn't seem fair at all to put that kind of time and effort into Karol and not Patrick, who's nipping at Karol's heels right now, developmentally speaking.  But he's in a totally different sensitive period, so the work he should be doing is totally different from what Karol is on.

Oh, and let's not forget little Max (that's Fetus Plomin's new name, now that we know he's a boy for sure)!  I have the chance to start from the very beginning with him.  But just taking care of the basic needs of an infant is enough work for one mom.  I'm already depriving the poor little guy of much needed sleep (for mommy) most nights in order to research Montessori homeschooling, apartments in NYC and preschool options.  Do I really think I'm going to be able to teach all my kids at the same time all by myself?

Well, yes.  I guess I do.  My plan?  Be prepared well in advance.  I'm going to have to tackle this 'stay at home mom' thing (makes me cringe to type that) with a strategic campaign plan.  That's why I'm so glad I discovered this awesome blog, Wanting What You Have.  It's written by a professional 'housewife' (cringe) who's come up with what she calls a Home Management Guide.  It is the greatest idea ever.  Not that its a new one.  Basically, it's a business plan for the home.  I've already started building mine.  I've got two whole sections done, and I'm totally stoked about it.

I'm doing mine a little differently, though, since, well, every household is a little different, and in our case, a lot different.  I'm planning for all my Montessori tools and research to be a huge section of this binder.  I think I'm going to come up with a different name for mine though.  Something like, 'Jillian's World Domination Strategic Campaign Plan.'  So far I've got all my work schedules done, pretty similar to how Heather does it, and a cleaning section.  I'm going to add a food section, but I still don't really know enough about cooking yet to put it together, and Matt's in charge of the groceries right now, so I'm at a loss for a price book (I'm just going to take over his).  The Montessori section I'm going to start building tonight right after I write this post.  As for the World Domination-specific sections, that's classified, sorry.

A Shout Out to Costco

After reading about (and commiserating with) BusyMom's exasperated comments on the worthlessness of typical coupon clipping, I felt the need to say that Costco, where we shop for pretty much everything, is an exception to the coupon rule.  They send out coupon books once a month or so that are awesome because:

1. They are full of items we actually want and need, for everyday use or even gifts.
2. They are worth something, usually $2-$10 dollars, rather than your typical 25 cents off 5 boxes of cereal X.
3. Costco is already usually the cheapest way to buy food; coupons make it even cheaper.

I usually don't make a big deal about the Costco coupon book, but this month it's loaded with stuff we needed - Oxy Clean detergent, two of our favorite cereals, a gift we've been meaning to get for someone ($10 off!), replacement toothbrush heads, and more.

I've already busted into the Oxy Clean to do laundry and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch - yum!  We're going to stock up later in the month after Matt's school starts.